a home built from adversity & diversity

LAR

THE PROJECT

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH AN IDEA

One of the many challenges of being a refugee or migrant is looking at a new country as a long term, stable new home.

LAR wants to help refugees find reasons to invest, grow and create a home in their host country, while also helping host countries recognise refugees and migrants as fellow countrymen and women who will contribute to the prosperity and development of the country.

LAR's main goal is to create a framework that gives refugees and migrant families a vision for the future. By providing resources and a roadmap for creating a home and a life in host countries, LAR will help refugees build reasons to want to stay.

Mission

To create a solution for families who have finished government funded integration programs, are left without sufficient financial support and still haven’t found stable jobs or homes;

To provide work, training and housing for every member of the family - conditions for them to want to stay long-term or permanently;

To create a model of cooperation among the various public and private entities which will guarantee the best conditions for families.

Values

People-Centric

Social Responsibility

Sustainability

Ethics

Trust

Transparency

Cooperation

Vision

Help refugees build a sustainable home - provide tools for refugee and migrant families to secure an autonomous livelihood mid- to long-term;

Develop a model for migrant communities and refugees which ensures a real and global integration in their host community;

Avoid crises arising from social tension and polarization;

Develop a replicable model which can be adapted for use in many countries.

WHO IS IT FOR?

For Refugee and migrant families

Initially, refugee and migrant families with an interest in agriculture; later, the program will also welcome Portuguese families in need

LAR gives you the opportunity to create something special, lasting and valuable, planting the seed of your future in your host country’s soil

The chance to support your family and have a stake in your daily work

The chance to be part of a community and contribute towards the growth of the nation you will want to call home

The LAR project will start in Portugal, where it is the only association to focus on creating a viable solution for refugee and migrant families who haven’t successfully integrated through the normal host programs.

For Host Countries

Host countries which welcome refugees and migrants but have difficulty integrating them

Every country is different, with different challenges and characteristics. LAR contemplates a model which considers the needs of specific countries, while helping integrate refugee and migrant families.

Portugal faces a set of challenges, particularly in the interior rural areas of the country:

Desertification;

An increasingly older population;

Underused and abandoned land.

These are the particular issues LAR will focus on fixing in the pilot project.

CONTEXT

Why is this relevant?

This is the world we live in, the one we want to help develop, the one for which we are trying to create durable, sustainable solutions:

Portugal

THE PROMISE:

Portugal is committed to receiving 2951 refugees - possibily welcoming up to 10.000

THE TRUTH:

Portugal has received 1453 refugees.

More than half have not stayed.

WHY?

Lack of network and contacts - most are in route to their families who are already established in other European countries.

Solutions offered across the country are not homogeneous.

Normal cultural shock.

PILOT PROJECT

Although this begins with an idea, our stepping stone is the pilot project.

We start in Ima, Guarda, Portugal.

Location:

Ima, Guarda, Portugal

THIS IS LAR´s GROUND 0, WHERE 4 FAMILIES WILL LIVE AND WORK WITH 3 ha OF LAND TO PLANT ON.

This is where the families integrated in the LAR Project will live, in the rehabilitated vacant houses.

Our focus will be on growing goji berries, black currant and saffron on the land available for farming.'

These are 3 profitable crops which adjust to the qualities of the land and are ready to harvest after just one year..

To create a framework focused on guaranteeing the best chance at integration for these 4 families, we will partner with other NGOs.

JRS (Serviço Jesuíta aos Refugiados) and PAR (Plataforma de Apoio aos Refugiados), which will act as placement organizations. They will also be a part of the integration process from the beginning.

Together, we will guarantee:

Basic needs for dignified living

Access to healthcare

School and education for the children

Housing

Jobs (agriculture)

Farming land

Training and qualification

Education in host country language and culture

Social Workers, Psychologists and Interpreters

WE HAVE:

Established Institutional and functional partnerships

Recruited team

Created a website for communication and fundraising purposes

Found land for the Pilot Project

Decided what fruit or vegetables are the best bet for growing in this land

WE ARE:

Defining the profile of the refugee or migrant families who will participate in the Pilot Project

IMMEDIATE NEXT STEPS:

Fundraising

Community work to create a structure for welcoming future refugee or migrant families

Ensure Schooling and Daycare for children

Have qualification and training programs in place

Work with Social Workers, Psychologists and the Community to help facilitate integration, acceptance and to follow the migrant and refugees’ process

Healthcare and basic needs set up

Construction

WHO WE ARE

TEAM

Ghalia Taki

Interpreter, Mediator & Advisor

Ghalia is from Damascus, Syria, where she studied Translation, specifically English to Arabic and vice-versa.

From the very beginning of her adult life, she has been focused on humanitarian work, volunteering in the Syrian Red Crescent Organization, during the war in Lebanon in 2006. After that, she worked in Administrative roles, until she started working as an Interpreter and Mediator with JRS (Servico Jesuita aos Refugiados) Portugal in 2015. In this job, she collaborates with organizations such as IOM - UN Migration Agency Mission of Portugal, PAR (Plataforma de Apoio aos Refugiados), the official Transitional Center for Hosting Refugees of Lisbon’s Municipality, and now LAR.

She decided to join the LAR team because she feels like she is part of the refugee and migrant communities the project is focused on helping. She believes LAR’s mission is a good solution which will answer this community’s needs and protect their dignity.

Bárbara Moreira

Founder

Bárbara’s academic background is in Marketing Management and she has worked in roles in this area in the private sector for the last 9 years.

She has always been passionate about human rights and social issues, volunteering since she was 16 years old in different organizations which focus on providing solutions for homeless people and underprivileged children – something she is still active in.

She founded LAR based on an idea she has been working on for years - thinking globally, acting locally. It stems from the belief that it would be impossible not to act when the refugee crisis reached unprecedented dimensions, she was moved by the idea of creating a dignified and sustainable life for migrants and refugees.

She is currently finishing her Master’s Degree in “Safety, Defense and Conflict Resolution”, focusing her thesis on the social inclusion of refugees and migrants.

Miguel Serrão

Agricultural Engineer, Consultant

Miguel Serrão has a degree in forestry engineering and continued his post graduate studies in agricultural and farming sciences.

He has been working as a technical and operational director in the executive management of companies within the sector of his specialization. He has also worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and other government cabinets.

He is now a consultant and specialist auditor in quality benchmarks, product traceability and management systems. He also collaborates with universities, acts as a presenter and technical consultant on food products for TV programs, and is a consultant for several other entities.

Within LAR, he will help guide the agricultural work of the Pilot Project.

Miguel chose to join the LAR team because he believes that, given the sustainable solution the project offers, it is a way to help build a better world.

Maria Furtado

Communications & Content Manager

Maria studied Media and Communication Studies and has worked as a Marketing Assistant and Copywriter in a number of companies in different sectors such as Digital Marketing, Fintech, Engineering Consultancy and Branding Strategy.

Maria joined the LAR team because she believes in intelligent and viable solutions for human problems. She will support the project by helping to shape its message and clearly communicate its growth to the world.

OUR PARTNERS

Cooperation is one of our core values. If you think your organization will add value to our project, we invite you to become a partner at LAR.

BLOG

This association will provide the formal framework to support LAR Project.

Feb 12, 2018

News

Today it all came to life.

It may be the public beginning of something, but it is the reflection of months of hard work.

4 months ago, there was a well researched idea, something presented and pursued in free time - a dream gaining form.

One month later, the will to make it happen in the best possible way, with the best team, resources and a full dedication started making it real.

During these 3 months, the backstage work got done: team, website, presentation video, right partners.
With a single purpose: do more and better for the refugee and migrant families, do more and better for our country.

We believed in the solution we had come up with and wanted to make it a reality: integrating refugee and migrant families in a dignified and sustainable way while improving and breathing life into the rural areas of the country.

Is it an ambitious project? Yes. Hard work? Most certainly - more than we were expecting or care to describe. But is it possible? For sure.

It is viable because of the sustainable model we have been developing and because we are so many working towards making something worthwhile happen.

Now we are thinking small: one step at a time. We want to grow in a sustained way, become more: more partners, more members, more volunteers, more supporters… All these people will be what will make LAR a home. All of you.